Titus 1

¹Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness, ²in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago ³and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Savior;

⁴To Titus, my true child in a common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

⁵This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you, ⁶if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of being profligate or insubordinate. ⁷For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, ⁸but hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled; ⁹he must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it. ¹⁰For there are many insubordinate men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially the circumcision party; ¹¹they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for base gain what they have no right to teach. ¹²One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴instead of giving heed to Jewish myths or to commands of men who reject the truth. ¹⁵To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted. ¹⁶They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good deed.